Agricultural chemicals including an insecticide, a fungicide or a bactericide, a herbicide, a miticide and a plant growth regulator, are used in the form of emulsifiable concentrates, wettable powders, granules, dust formulations, suspension concentrates or flowables, liquid formulations etc. For sufficiently deriving the effect of a technical material of agricultural chemical, an agricultural chemical with improvements in the physical properties thereof is extensively devised, but further enhancement of the effect of the agricultural chemical is difficult at present by devising the formulation. Development of novel agricultural chemicals is more difficult, and therefore, further enhancement of the activity of existing agricultural chemicals is significantly meaningful in industry.
It is known that various surfactants have been utilized as an enhancer for agricultural chemicals. For example, it is known that a composition exerting a strong effect on bipyridinium herbicide can be obtained by combining an anionic surfactant with a chelating agent (WO95/31903). Further, it is also known that a highly effective effect-enhancing composition for agricultural chemicals can be obtained by compounding a chelating agent with a cationic surfactant and adding another surfactant thereto (WO95/17817).
Further, an alkyl or alkenyl polyoxyalkylene ether acetate is known to have a strong effect, but when used in combination with various additives such as a chelating agent, a thickener, or inorganic materials, is poor in stability which makes manufacturing of a formulation very difficult, and is thus not practically used often. The stability thereof gets worse particularly when blended at a high concentration. Further, the alkyl or alkenyl polyoxyalkylene ether acetate is highly acidic (pH 2 or thereabout), and is thus not only may be dangerous when used, but also may, when used in a formulation, decompose other surfactants and technical materials of agricultural chemicals, which lowers their activity. Further, the use of an amine oxide as an enhancer for agricultural chemicals is also known (JP-A 1-268605), but there is a demand for further improvements in the effect-enhancing action.
In JP-A 1-299205, the storage stability of Vasta (glyphosinate) is improved by the use of a surfactant.